What a difference a real fitting makes...

[anakiwa]

Not at all. I don't have a Serotta. Whatever they think about your non-Serotta bike, they generally keep to themselves.

You don't even have to buy a bike. You can make an appointment to simply get fit to your current bike. I had a road bike fitting a year and a half ago- they changed the stem (made the reach much closer) and the seatpost (straight post instead of set-back- again to shorten the reach). It made a tremendous difference. They'll figure out what the ideal position is for you - and then advise adjustments to your current bike to do the best to re-position you. (And of course the numbers are there if you want to purchase a bike too.)

[spokewench]

A question about fitting, if you don't mind. My husband has a little arthritis in his right knee. He went to a sports doc and had it checked out -- no other issues but the "little bit" of arthritis.

Still, it starts bothering him when he rides. I mentioned this at the LBS and said I was trying to get him to come in for a fitting, and the guy said that there was only one thing to adjust that would affect his knee -- the seat stem height. (We don't have clips or clipless -- just flat pedals.)

Could that be right? If it is, then I guess the only thing to do is just fiddle with the seat height and see if we can get it more comfortable.

The guy did talk about how the leg should be extended when the pedal is on its lowest point of the revolution, etc. I'm just wondering if the height of the seat truly is the only thing that would impact the stress on my husband's knee.

If it is arthritis in the knee it will probably not go away completely with the correct saddle height and fore and aft positioning, but it will help. Fore and aft is not quite as critical when you are riding with flat pedals cause you can move your foot around on the pedal fore and aft and probably do without knowing it. But you should try to keep your feet with the ball of your foot over the spindle area of the pedal and try to keep your foot as neutral as possible. Neutral means where it feels comfortable, some people toe out a little some in, but it should be fairly straight forward with a little change for your specific anatomy.

Here are some tips I can also give you to help the pain in the knee - I have arthritis in my knee and my back so I have two different things that cause pain in my knee. But, make sure that your hubby is stretching well, and especially keeping stretched the IT band area. This is the band of tendon that runs from your hip to your knee. This can get tight and pull on the knee and cause more pain. My knee always hurts more in the Spring when I start riding more cause my IT gets tight. The more I get used to riding, the better it gets and the more I stretch the better it gets. Also, I change my saddle height an infintessimal bit in the winter, Spring and then when I am riding more in the summer. In the winter you wear more clothes that put you farther from your pedals so you need to drop your saddle an 1/8 or 1/4 of an inch during winter. When you become more flexible as you are riding more in the Spring and you are taking off more clothes, then you can raise your saddle up that little 1/8 or 1/4 inch.

Hope that helps.

spoke

[teigyr]

After reading all of this, DH and I are in the process of making an appt for bike fitting! Thank you everyone.

I have only cursory been fit on my old bike but never on my new. My old shoes were marked for cleats by a fit person but my new ones aren't and I am noticing a difference.

I'm getting excited because I'm sure there will be huge differences and that can only be for the better. Yay!

[Kalidurga]

Kalidurga, how much did this certified fitting cost? I am looking to purchase a new bike by the end of the year, and a thorough fitting would be nice to accompany my new ride.

The shop I went to charges $150 for the fitting and $35 for cleat adjustments. Then I also paid for the new saddle, the steerer extender, and the labor to install that, so you'd have to factor potential changes to your bike into the cost. Depending on how many shops in your area offer Serotta-certified fittings, hopefully you would be able to shop around a bit. Personally, I think it's definitely worth driving a bit out of the area if necessary.

And, to second (third?) maillotpois and anakiwa, I don't think most shops care what sort of bike you have. My shop deals with Independent Fabrications so they recommend having the Serotta-fitting as a step in designing a custom bike, but they'll use the fitting to adapt any other bike to you.